So, I posted a while ago that I was playing around with a Virtual Reality smartphone app that would allow you to explore the Rosetta mission and comet 67P. Well, after several months I've finally finished it! It's up and live on the Google Play Store and you can get it for free here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.UKAstroNutProductions.Rosetta
There's some really cool features in the app. You can explore a realistic model of comet 67P and the Rosetta satellite, looking around the comet and seeing it in 3D. There's a model solar system which shows the journey Rosetta had taken since it's launch. There's also a virtual tour of Rosetta journey! All of these are ways of showing off how cool the Rosetta satellite and comet 67P look in 3D.
There's already a couple of things I want to add to the app to make it even better, which will be added in the near future. I'm also hoping that the European Space Agency will provide some support and maybe even some cool resources I can add to the app. But, in the meantime I hope you all enjoy the app. Feel free to leave any comments or feedback as I'd love to hear it!
So, if you live in the UK, you know there are two things that indicate Christmas is here: the Coca-Cola lorry and the John Lewis Christmas advert. It's odd to think that the second one has only been going for a few years, yet every year most of us can't wait to see what kind of moving video and brilliant cover song they have done this year.
This year's advert, titled #ManOnTheMoon, is up to the same tear-jerking, inspiring standard as previous years. But to me it's a little bit more special than previous years as it has an astronomical theme to it. The advert follows a young girl who spots an elderly man living on the moon. She tries desperately to get a card and present to him, but nothing seems to do the job. Then, just as you think everything has failed, a helium balloon carried Christmas present starts bobbling along the surface of the moon. Hooray!
Throughout the advert there's some really interesting science and astronomy, which I can't help but look at and wonder how much of it is possible. Could you see a man on the moon? Do helium balloons work on the lunar surface? I've made a video for my YouTube channel going through the science behind the advert, if you're interested in finding out more!
But despite some of the science being a bit suspicious, it's a beautiful advert and it seems to be inspiring people in lot's of different ways. Some people note that the advert is telling us to think of the older, often vulnerable and lonely, generation at Christmas. Others see it as an inspiration for people to get in to astronomy and to get outside this winter and enjoy the night sky. Hopefully it has inspired you in some small way!
A couple of months ago I was nominated for an award for early career researchers (PhD students and postdocs typically) for their contribution to science outreach and communication. This was for the blog stuff I do, my Youtube channel, by VR apps project and other things. The award ceremony, which happens every 2 years, is hosted by the organisation Elsevier. Information on the award is at https://www.elsevier.com/awards/europe/early-career-researcher-uk-awards-2015
This year was the first time an award for outreach has been given out, alongside the usual awards for science research. As you can imagine, I am a very happy man! Not only did I get the lovely engraved glass award you can see me holding above, but I also got awarded money to help me do even more cool outreach.
If they read this, I want to thank everyone on the judging panel and those involved with the awards. It's great to be recognised for the extra work I put in to outreach and I know it will encourage me to keep on doing it!
Last night was our second public demonstration of our Virtual reality apps. Here in Cardiff there is a fun science centre called Techniquest. Every month they do an adults only evening where over 18's can be kids again and play with fun science demonstrations and experiments, whilst also having a beer! Normally alcohol and science would be a bad thing, but here it is most certainly a positive!
Techniquest very kindly let us go along to show off our two astronomy VR apps, 'Our Solar System VR' and 'Our Universe in Light VR'. To say the event was successful would be an understatement. In just a few hours we reckon we showed the apps off to around 150-200 people! We had a queue out of the door of people wanting to use the apps, they were that popular!
The feedback was really great (my job today has been to go through all of our feedback forms, which is no easy feat!) and people commented how great the VR apps were. The 'Oohs' and ''Wows' are probably the best indication of just how much people enjoyed them.
Over 200 people have already downloaded the solar system app from the app store, which is fantastic. We're hoping to get this even higher, so if you haven't got it already, what are you waiting for!?!
Last night I was one of the speakers at Science Cafe Cardiff, as part of their monthly events where scientists, engineers, mathematicians and general STEM people give informal public talks in a pub! I was lucky enough to be able to talk about the Virtual Reality project I'm running, showing off the Solar system and Universe in light apps. Luckily the whole event didn't finish late, but there's something about organising and giving public demonstrations that tires you out!
I gave a presentation on the project, the apps and the reasoning and science behind them, but the main aim was to let people play around with the VR headsets. Virtual reality seems to futuristic. 6 months ago I had never used VR, but now I can't imagine being without it. It's great to see people using it for the first time, slowly and cautiously moving their head as they realise they are able to look around. The best bit is when people put their arms out to try and touch a virtual planet, so immersed in the VR world that they almost think it's real.
We got loads of great feedback and questions at the end. I have about 30 feedback forms to work through and see what people thought, which is really good. Next week I'm at the Techniquest science centre demoing the apps as well, which should be really fun and hopefully a bit more relaxed!
Today, on the 29th of September 2015, we have found water on Mars. This is the first time the life giving liquid has been confirmed on another body than our own planet. To say this is one of the most amazing discoveries in science is an understatement. Life has existed on our planet for billions of years, only possible by the liquid water which covers two thirds of our planet. If we are to ever discover life out there in the Universe, the day we first found water on a planet other than our own will be remembered as the first step!
But let's calm down. What exactly has NASA found? Well, NASA has been looking at the large slopes on the surface of the red planet and have noticed something interesting. Using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a satellite orbiting Mars, scientists have been studying these slopes and specifically looking at the chemicals present. What they've found is that in the summer months, long trails of salt appear, cascading down the slopes. The cause of this? Salt water trickling down the slopes, depositing the salt behind, before disappearing. The fact these only appear in the summer and disappear in the winter suggests Mars is warm enough in the Summer so that salt water can exist in liquid form. This is therefore evidence that liquid water does still exist on Mars!
Streaks of salt down the side of slopes on Mars are signs of water flow.
But where does this water come from each summer? Well we're still not quite sure, but it could be that the salt itself absorbs the water from the atmosphere. Whatever the reason, water is some how collecting in large enough quantities to create these metre long streaks down the sides of slopes on Mars.
But think back to your school days. Remember when your teacher told you Mars was beyond the orbit of Earth, beyond the goldilocks zone, where less of the Suns energy reaches the surface of the planet. Here, without a thick atmosphere like Earth, any water on Mars is frozen solid. We know this because we can see frozen water ice caps at the poles of Mars. So, how then has NASA found liquid water? Well, some months ago NASA found deposits of salt on Mars and this is the key to the freezing problem. Salt water, like in the oceans on Earth, has a lowest freezing point than pure water. This means whilst pure water on Mars is frozen solid, salt water will remain as a liquid.
We believe that Mars was once covered by a huge ocean of water, millions of year ago when it was warmer. This is far from the case today, but it now seems that at warm points on the planets surface, small trickles and steams of water exist on the surface.
So, if there is water on Mars, is there life? This is a tricky question. We know complex life doesn't exist on Mars (unless there's a colony of super animals living beneath the surface) (which there isn't), but simple life like bacteria is more possible. Whether they could live with such infrequent amounts of water is unknown. The harsh conditions on the surface, a mixture of radiation and extreme temperature, mean that even with a constant supply of water, life might still be impossible.
But this is a problem for another day, today is all about celebrating the discovery of liquid water on Mars. NASA and other space agencies have spent billions of pounds and dollars sending satellites and rovers to Mars, some designed specifically to find evidence of water or life on the red planet. And today all the hard work, by the thousands of NASA and space workers, has been a success. With several rovers still going and even more set to land on Mars in the future, there is still lot's of work to be done to understand this lone little red planet and find out whatever mysteries it still holds!
Want to find out more? Watch my latest YouTube video:
So, I've been very lucky to have been nominated for the annual Researchers Choice Communication award! The aim of it is to recognise early career researchers who communicate their research and science to the general public. The first stage of the process is to get votes from people on the Mendeley website. The people with the most votes go in front of a panel who then decide who gets the award. The winner also gets £1500!
So, now I need your help. I need your votes! All you need to do is go to this website (https://www.mendeley.com/groups/3828271/researchers-choice-communication-award-2015/). You need to register for a Mendeley account, join the group by clicking the button at the top of the page. then go down to the post about me, posted by Wendy Sadler, and click 'like' at the bottom of the post.
Whilst you're there, check out the other entrants. They all look to have done loads of amazing outreach, so why not give your likes to some other people as well!
Fingers crossed I win, but to be honest, just being nominated and recognised is amazing, so I'm happy no matter what!
This week I was lucky enough to go to the Cambridge film festival in the UK. I only got to go to the opening night, but I got to see one of their highlight movies, a documentary called STAR MEN. It's a documentary that follows around four British astronomers, all now in their 70's, who all worked as astrophysicists in the USA after their PhD's. The group consists of the physicists Donald Lynden-Bell, L.W.Sargent, Roger Griffin and Nick Woolf.
In the film, the group have all reunited together for a reunion, a trip back to where they worked in America, to catch up and see what has changed. They travel to several of Americas biggest telescopes, ones that they used for their research. They also trace some of the journeys they did during their time in the USA, as they drove off exploring the amazing landscapes.
The documentary was absolutely brilliant. It was amazing seeing what astrophysics research was like 50 years ago. It was also really interesting to see how all of these people's lives have changed over their careers. There's some really funny parts and also some quite sad bits. Overall, the film is a great watch, so check it out if you can.
The documentary doesn't yet have details on a general release, but if you ever get the chance to watch it, it's is brilliant. You can find out more on the film's website http://www.starmen.space/
So, this week on my YouTube channel, I decided to do a video on LISA Pathfinder. Chances are you probably haven't heard of it before, but LISA Pathfinder is the European Space Agencies upcoming mission, set to launch before the end of the year.
But it's a bit unusual, as it's not going to directly be doing any amazing science. Instead, it's going to test a lot of new technology and techniques set to be used on the future ESA mission LISA. So LISA Pathfinder is the pre-mission to LISA (which stands for laser interferometer space antennae).
It might therefore sound a bit boring, but LISA itself is going to try to detect the elusive gravitational waves, first predicted by Albert Einstein that have until now been elusive to us. LISA won't launch for around 20 years, so there's plenty of time to test everything for it and make sure it will probably work!
So, check out my video below to learn more about this really interesting mission!
So I've spent a few hours playing with the Google Cardboard Virtual Reality app of the Rosetta mission. I've pencilled out what I want in the app (though this will inevitably change!) and had a go at the three basic parts of the app I want.
The first part of the app is a zoomed out view of comet 67P. Using the VR headset you can move your head around to look around the comet. You'll notice now that the images appear to have two mirrored copies of each other side by side. In fact, they are slightly offset from each other and provide the stereoscopic view needed to create the 3D view with the VR headsets. I added in lighting and a model of the Sun, meaning you can see what 67P looks like on the bright and dark side. There's also a model of Rosetta orbiting the comet, but it's a bit to small to see in these images.
Next up is a zoomed in view of the comet. I have a few ideas of what I'd like to have on this part, but I'm still fleshing out the idea. In the mean time, I'm enjoying getting views of the close up of the comet!
Finally I've made a model of the solar system. The hope is that in the end I will have a 3D model of the solar system, showing the journey of Rosetta since it's launch. I managed to find accurate positions of the planets from this really useful NADA site (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi). I can also get the Rosetta positions which is great, but I need to do some work on loading arrays with c#.
I saw Brian May posted today a stereoscopic image he helped make of comet 67P. It's amazing, but I wonder what he would think of my 3D VR model!
I was trying to think of something to post about today whilst sipping at my coffee on my day off, when I suddenly remembered one of the coolest things I've ever done, which I never posted about. About 6 months ago, I was playing Kerbal Space Program. If you've never heard of it before, it's a computer game where you control your own space agency, creating rockets and exploring the Solar System.
Part of the game allows you to add a logo for your space agency and one of the possible options is to use the NASA logo. However I was sad to see that the European Space Agency logo wasn't a possible option (having worked at ESA for a year I feel passionate about giving them their deserved publicity and appreciation!). So, I half jokingly sent a tweet to both ESA and the makers of Kerbal Space Program, commenting that they should get together so I can represent ESA.
Just seen that the @ESA symbol isn't a possible flag on @KerbalSpaceP, but NASA is. Please add it, it would be so great :)
Except it was! Just a few minute after ESA came back with the thumbs up to use the logo. As you can imagine, quite a few people on Twitter joined in to celebrate our diversifying of space agency logos...
And so, the European Space Agency logo was added to Kerbal Space Program in the next update and you can now represent them with the logo in game. It's great to see two big companies working together. Adding the logo was just a small thing, but it really makes a big difference!
So, I recently posted that I co-made a couple of virtual reality apps for phones, that you can check out using the cheap Google Cardboard headsets. I've been in a bit of a high since making and releasing these and have been trying to think what I'd like to do next.
I went to a great talk the other night about the recent European Space Agency Rosetta mission, which landed a probe on a comet. There are loads of amazing image of the comet named 67P and of Rosetta, but they don't really show off the scale or the beauty of the comet. So I suddenly had the idea of making a VR Google Cardboard app to show off the comet in it's full 3D glory! Partly to practice my skills at making apps, partly to use for outreach, but mainly because I want to see it.
Luckily models of comet 67P and Rosetta already exist, which makes my life a lot easier. I was worried I would have to make them myself, which would be a pain, but the European Space Agency have actually already done the hard work.
So I quickly put them in to a scene, whacked a temporary Sun in the background and added an image of the Milky Way to the overall background and here are the results!
This is what I managed after half an hour of playing this morning, but there's a long way to go before I make a really great app from the idea. Still, it's a good start. So, I'm going to give blogging about the project a go, in case people are interested in what I've done. So come back and check out my blog to see how I'm getting along!
So last week I was lucky enough to go to Eisteddfod, a festival in Wales that celebrates welsh culture, language and arts. Now, I'm not the artistic type (and I'm not even Welsh!), but a smaller feature of the festival is celebration of science in Wales. As a budding young scientist who studies in Wales, I ticked this box, which is how I got to go along.
A friend and I were showing off our latest science outreach project, two virtual reality apps that can be run on your phone, that let you explore the Solar System and the Universe! Using Google's Cardboard headset (which costs less than £10!), you can turn most smartphones in to a virtual reality headset.
Everyone loved the apps and were amazed at what they could see. Seeing the planets and sun in our solar system orbiting around in space in front of them drew a lot of "Wow" and "So cool" comments. The fact that we also got the apps translated in Welsh in addition to English meant everyone was really excited about our project. I was amazed to see how friendly people at Eisteddfod were, considering I don't speak a word of Welsh. If you did see us there, thank you very much for coming and talking to us and having a look at our apps.
If you want to check out the apps and get them for yourselves for free, they are called Our Solar System VR and Our Universe In Light VR and are both on the Google Play Store!
So, over the last month and a bit, I have been helping to develop some astronomy apps. The aim of them is to inspire and amaze people, whilst maybe teaching people some things. The amazement comes through the fact that they are virtual reality apps. Using the Google Cardboard headset you can explore our solar system and our universe in virtual reality. The headsets only cost around £10 on Amazon and the apps are free!
The two apps are called Our Solar System VR and Our Universe In Light VR. In Our Solar System VR, you are able to explore and travel around the solar system in virtual reality. You can look around at the planets and our sun, zoom to the planets to get a closer look and even learn some cool facts and information about each one. In our Universe In Light VR you can look at the Universe in different wavelengths of light, from radio to optical to X-Ray. You can also check out some of the fascinating objects we can see in the Universe and learn more about each one.Both apps are completely free and all the information can be in either English or Welsh.
So why not go check out both the apps and buy yourself a Google Cardboard headset whilst you're at it. There' hundreds of other great apps to check out, so why not!
If you've never visited the London Natural History Museum then you probably have no idea who Dippy is (I must admit, I didn't know he/she had a name). But it seems that there is a secret underground following for this plaster cast model of a Diplodocus skeleton. After the museum announced today that it would be switching the model skeleton in 2017 with the real skeleton of Whaley (yes, I just made up that nickname, shut up), the 25m skeleton of a whale that was beached in Ireland in the late 1800's.
Petitions and fake twitter accounts have been set up to bring attention to this travesty of museum exhibitions and to convince the museum to reverse it's decision. Sure, it's always sad to see a friend packed in to a storage box in the back of a museum (not from personal experience), but Dippy has had a 35 year long life in the front hall of the museum, which is pretty incredible for a skeleton that isn't even real!
And that's the main argument from the museum for changing the exhibits. Whilst the dinosaur is a paper cast model of a relatively unknown dinosaur, Whaley (this nicknames going to stick, I swear) is a real skeleton of a whale whos life and death are relatively well known. It's also an incredible example of a whale skeleton, with every bone present. Sure dinosaurs have a certain romance to them (if you're in to giant lizards), but at the end of the day it's essentially a papier-mache model. Surely it's better to flaunt off the incredible real life skeletons instead?
But if you're still not convinced by the museums arguments, then go ahead and sign the petition and spam social media with your love for Dippy. But personally, I'm looking forward to welcoming Whaley, to the front hall of a museum I will probably not visit for many years again, in 2017.
All the worlds doomsayers have been on high alert for the last week as the asteroid 2004 BL86 passed close to the Earth. Of course, when we say close we mean in space scale, which was 1.2 million kilometres, or around 3 times the separation of the Moon and the Earth. The asteroid unsurprisingly passed safely past, as expected (there are many organisations that focus on predicting the paths of asteroids, to watch out for any dangerous ones).
After the panic period, many people were able to spot the asteroid in the night sky last night, which was relatively bright. Such bright asteroids are a rather rare sight, so its always a treat to be able to spot one. But whilst many of us were trying to spot the asteroid with our eyes or binoculars, the team at NASA's Deep Space Network antennae was taking some incredible radio images of the asteroid. Radio waves are reflected off the asteroid which can be seen by the antennae, allowing scientists to see the asteroid even if it isn't illuminated by visible light form the Sun.
The radio images have allowed scientists to measure the size of the asteroid and study some of the details of its surface. But it was one unique feature that they didn't expect to see. The asteroid has a moon! Just as the Earth has a large body orbiting around it, our very own Moon, the asteroid 2004 BL86 also has a piece of rock orbiting around it. It's had to think of a body 1/40th the diameter of the Earth having enough gravity to have its own visible moon. You can see a time lapse of the asteroid above, where its moon can be seen as the bright spot moving down from the top of the image.
But whilst it was a surprise to the scientists that this particular asteroid has a moon, it's not overall a surprise, as many moons have been found orbiting around asteroids in our Solar System already. Still, it's not something we get to see very often, let alone around an asteroid that we can see clearly in the sky.
The NASA spacecraft Dawn, which launched 8 years ago, is finally approaching its final destination, the dwarf planet Ceres. The hard working little satellite has already spent over a year studying the asteroid Vesta, located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and now is on its way through the asteroid belt to Ceres.
As Dawn has been getting closer to Ceres, it's taken some amazing pictures, one of which can be seen above. This picture was taken around 400,000 kilometres from Ceres, but is getting closer and closer and will eventually take the best images we've ever seen of the mysterious little dwarf planet. But even now we can already start seeing some interesting features on the dwarf planets surface. One of which is the bright spot that can be seen on the planets surface (seen below). We don't know yet what causes this, though it is likely a very reflective area on the surface, reflecting back sun light, but we need a bit more time to find out what it is exactly.
The asteroid belt is the remains of planet formation around our sun, that created the Earth and all the other planets billions of years ago. Leftover material formed the ring of rock, dust and ice that forms the asteroid belt, which in turn likely formed Ceres and Vesta. Whilst Ceres is not a proper planet, instead taking the same dwarf classification as Pluto, it was formed in the same way as planets like Jupiter and the Earth, but failed to sweep up all the remaining material in the belt.
With the NASA New Horizons probe reaching Pluto in the near future, this year seems to be the year of dwarf planets. Hopefully we will be able to get some incredible views of these unexplored worlds and better understand how the solar system formed, all those years ago!
